Good UX is integral to unlocking the secrets to better MTR and hybrid space design.
So is it time to bust the myth of dogfooding? (And why do definitions of UX vary so wildly?)
'Dogfooding' is the practice whereby an organisation tests its own products and services on itself - to improve products and to garner user feedback data.
Why doesn't the term itself set alarm bells ringing before the process begin? Let's unpack the transaction of feeding a dog! OK, my dog.
When I feed my dog, I choose what he eats and when he eats it. I make him sit and wait until I say 'OK' and then he gobbles it up. He thinks those desiccated brown pellets are the very best food because he knows no other. And he thinks I'm the coolest being on the planet. (I'm still working on my kids. Give me time.)
So what's the difference between this and 'dogfooding' in companies and campuses?
The term 'dogfooding' gives unwitting testimony to the power and political structures behind this practice and why it's fraught with dangers of inaccurate and skewed feedback and user data.
Worse, this goes hand in hand with widespread misapprehensions about UX design.
Within AV, many think that UX design is concerned with control panel or GUI design. But true UX design is a radical and holistic approach which takes its lead from phenomenology, a starting point for which holds that objectivity is effectively a myth.
In AV, the radical and scary thing about UX design is that you have to talk to users. And there's a science here about how to talk to users, to avoid asking leading questions. It's based around Human Centred Design and User Centred Design. Ten seconds of Googling will find you some wonderful books and resources.
The last question to ask a user is what s/he wants. If Henry Ford had asked that question, the reply would have been 'faster horses' not the Model T. And so it was with the iPhone.
In AVIXA, we're producing a new standard: User Experience Design for AV. Keep your eyes open for it. Engage with it when we go to public review. I'm privileged to be working with some real experts in this task group. In the US there's Lisa Perrine, Ed.D. and in the UK there's Adam Banks, to name but two.
It's quite possible for organisations to 'get it' about UX, which is transformative. But it's virtually impossible to keep on the path of righteousness without getting back into the self-polluting dangers of dogfooding.
In the long term, organisations with a true understanding of UX will have ongoing engagements with third party UX practitioners to keep them on track and to maximise the benefits.
I've written a White Paper on Microsoft Teams Rooms hybrid meeting/teaching space design - Microsoft Teams Rooms – Displays, Projection and the bigger picture. Download a copy here.
Posted: 13th June 2022